Backbencher

Lecture Six was titled Society: All Blacks v. Wallabies and focused on the myths and culture that make up both Australia and New Zealand societies. The myths of Australia's convict settlement and New Zealands planned settlement have permeated both cultures and shaped the way both countries have developed, with Australia attempting to become distinctly NOT ENGLISH and New Zealand trying to become distictly NOT AUSTRALIAN. In New Zealand the idea of a planned settlement with good relations with the Maori people has evolved into a society today that still sees itself as the pinnacle of racial relations in the world even though they might be exaggerating a bit. In Australia the convict past has evolved into a country that identifies itself with its least productive lands and praises outlaws from the past. The real question is, however, how do these myths translate into the modern societies. Both nations, according to Dr. Isern, have developed into multi-cultural nations with anglo backgrounds. They differ, however, in the fact that Australia has become an increasingly urban nation while the rural idea still holds strong in New Zealand. Both nations origins have shaped the way that they have developed into the 21st century but neither nation was able to remain 100% true to their origin myths.

The most interesting part of this lecture to me was the last part about the popular sports in both nations. I admit to not knowing a whole lot about Rugby but have always enjoyed what little glimpses I have been able to catch on television. Both games are fascinating to watch because even though the strategies seem odd to someone who was raised playing football the creativity it would take to play the game is amazing.I wish more rugby and australian rules football was televised in the U.S., preferably between football seasons.

Whale Rider (2002), directed by Niki Caro, is a very moving look at the Maori culture. Set in current day New Zealand, Whale Rider explores the rigid structure of Maori tradition. The movie starts with the birth of twins in which the mother and one of the twins dies. The surviving twin is the main character, Paikea. She was born into a Maori family of ancient lineage leading back to the warrior who first came to New Zealand on a whale as told by Maori tradition. As if her life wasn't off to a rough enough start, her father left after birth leaving her to be raised by her grandfather, Koro. Koro proved to be a loving and caring grandfather, but was infatuated with finding a warrior to lead the Maori race. Paikea unrelentingly tries to gain her grandfather's attention in his search for a warrior despite that she is a female striving for a male's role.


Many different aspects make Whale Rider a must watch movie. The superb acting and excellent cinematography compliments the intriguing plot. Keisha Castle-Hughes, the actress who played Paikea, was nominated for an Oscar for best actress for her role in Whale Rider. Also, the beauty of the New Zealand landscape is captured in nearly every panorama shot in the movie. Lastly, the movie sheds light on a struggling Maori society. Many of the ancient Maori traditions and their current situation of living near poverty levels bring comparisons to the Native American situation in the United States. Whale Rider fires on all cylinders, and comes highly recommended on my end.

"Society: All Blacks vs. Wallabies" was the title of Lecture 6. It was about how Australians and New Zealanders saw themselves. Australians are not English and New Zealanders are not Australian.

After World War II, many Europeans immigrated down to Australia and New Zealand. There was also an Asian and a Polynesian immigration in New Zealand. They then had a multi-culture and an Anglo-Celtic core culture. The Anglo-Celtics in New Zealand are called Pakeha. In Australia, there was a migration of people from the rural parts to the cities. New Zealand has a "green interest in the countryside." There was an increase in numbers of farm well into the 1970s. This is different from most other places in the world where the people were moving off of the farms.

Australians and New Zealanders are very into sports. The Australians have Rugby League, the New Zealanders have Rugby Union, and then there is another sport called Australia Rules which is very vicious. The All Blacks from New Zealand are the "most successful international rugby organization in history."

It is interesting that the New Zealanders are such fanatics of Rugby and that if the team does not play well but still wins, the fans are not happy with the Rugby team. They are also very competitive with the British and feel really good when they beat them. I was wondering if Australia and/or New Zealand have some kind of auto racing. If they do, is it an important part of their lives like NASCAR is with many Americans? Do they drive on tracks or are they actual road races?

A History of New Zealand by Keith Sinclair was written in order to tell others the history of New Zealand. Sinclair starts the book with a prologue telling the reader about what the Maoris believe as the creation of the world. The book then went through the history of New Zealand from 1642 through 2000 including the political parties in power, relations with other countries, how the Maoris were treated, and the reforms that the country went through. This book shows the path that New Zealand followed to go from the explorers and European settlements to colonies to, ultimately, a dominion.

I thought this book was very interesting. I like how Sinclair started with the Maoris and gave them a big part in the book. He didn't just give him two pages like Clark in his Short History of Australia. Sinclair wrote about what the Maoris thought about the early European explorers and the colonists, along with what they believed and how they treated the Europeans. The book also showed how the Europeans treated the Maoris and how they bought the Maori lands.

I also liked how Sinclair wrote about some of the other things that, as a group, we decided were important in the history of a country. These included the discovery of the land, some imports and exports, leaders of the government and what forms of government were in power at certain times, schools, women, and wars/battles with other countries and/or other groups of people. He discussed how women got the right to vote in the late 1800s which was almost the earliest in the world. They were involved in politics but not in a huge way until later. Sinclair wrote about religion but did not dwell on it for very long. He wrote more about the religious views of the Maori then he did any other religion.

Sinclair wrote about the poets and the poetry that came from New Zealand and how the poetry changed depending on when it was written. New Zealand went through some depressions and inflationary periods which affected the lives of the people living in New Zealand and in other countries. These periods of depression influenced the poets and other artists during that time.

I still don't totally understand all of the political parts of the books that we have read this semester. I know that there is the Labour Party and the Liberal Party but I don't know what the main difference is between them. It was of particular interest to me that New Zealand blamed the Americans for the Vietnam War and had no respect for them during the 1980s. I did not know that New Zealand was a part of the Vietnam War or had any ties to it. It was interesting to find this information out.

Reading the Sydney Morning Herald was more interesting than I thought it was going to be. One of the first headlines that caught my eyes was “I will tear out here eyes with pleasure: “Virgin hunter” denies murder pact’. This was an article about the killing spree that began back in 1987 and ended in 2003 in the France Belgium area. Michel Fourniret is a self-confessed serial killer in France with the accomplice of Monique Olivier. Olivier is claiming that there was no pact between her and Fourniret, and that she did not agree to help entrap the victims. Instead, the letters that she wrote were just ‘words’ and nothing more. There is a whole slew of issues throughout the trial of how many people that Fourniret killed, and what part, if any, did Olivier have. Some other article title was “Girl, 5, thrown to death out of sixth floor window” and ‘Father drowns three children in bath’. The story about the drowning was actually placed in Baltimore, Maryland and the death of the 5 year old girl was actually in Sao Paulo.


What baffled me the most about the main page of the Sydney Herald was the fact that roughly 80% of the ‘eye catching death’ stories were from other parts of the world. I don’t know if that is there ploy to get readers to look into the news, and then find that there is nothing interesting besides politically going on in there nation? It appears that the Herald uses the same eye catching material that Americans use, but because they do not have [or do not want to admit they have] these types of stories, they use stories from else where. The next time I read the Herald I’m going to remember not to get worried for my friends that are in Australia because these titles have a better possibility to actually be a story from where I am living.

Lecture 6, entitled "All Blacks vs. Wallabies", was basically a discussion pertaining to the composition of culture in Australia and New Zealand. Dr. Isern discussed the many founding myths that helped to define the cultures today. In Australia, these myths include their convict settlement, their insistence on not being thought of as English, the overthrow of squattocracy, and the reign of the bourgeoisie. These myths led to the formation of a culture that defies authority and values mateship. In New Zealand, founding myths of a planned settlement, retaining ties to Britain, a classless society, and the insistence on not being thought of as Australian have contributed to a society that has a smaller gap between high and low classes but is very self congratulatory. It was also interesting to see how despite being urban societies, both the Australians and New Zealanders prefer a rural image. This has actually caused a clash between farmers and urbanites in Nw Zealand wanting to commune in nature.


I thought a very interesting discussion point of this lecture was that of Australia's defiance of authority. Australians are so fascinated with their criminal history that many museums are criminal oriented. It reminds me a lot of the fascination many U.S. citizens have of famous criminals such as Jesse James. Just a small example of this fascination is the "Jesse James Days" celebration in Northfield, MN that marks Jesse James' gangs bank robbery and ensuing manhunt in Northfield. Even movies such as The Assisination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford seem to sympathize with the character of Jesse James despite being a murderous thief. However, it seems in Australia the obsession with criminals such as Ned Kelly seems to be to the point of martyrdom. Things must always be a little more extreme in Australia.

Titled "Society: All Blacks v. Wallabies" lecture six discusses many people, sports, and aspects that influence Australian and New Zealand both past and present. We talked about the founding mythologies, Australia and the convict settlement, and New Zealand with the planned settlement. In learning about the two countries I've personally decided that Australia appeals more to me, probably just because Australia Was formed from convicts, and New Zealand with their "planned failure" makes me bored.
From there we discussed some influential people, William Diver, William Pember Reeves author of "The Long White Cloud." Russel Ward, "the Australian Legend." He was the muse for many bush ballads and popular lit. Women where mentioned in Australian history by Clark, but barely. We discussed one day that not much beyond the prostitutes was mentioned by Clark. We also discussed A.G.L Shaw, who also mentioned that "the ordinary man usually prefers the pleasures of the body." Which suggests again that women were not thought of.
The demographics were and we talked about the Maori defying 'fatal contact.' Along with that there was a wave of European immigrants after World War 2, and Asian Immigration (despite White Australia Policy.) It shocked me when we discussed the White Australia Policy, interesting that an entire country thought they could keep themselves "white."
Urban Australia was discussed and in class, and again after the lecture had been reviewed by a couple people, and I really enjoyed hearing the view points already discussed. I liked that someone thought they appeared to be posers. I'm glad Isern addressed this idea in class, it was interesting, and it was good to think about.
After all of this we ended the lecture with a few quick comments on sports. It would be fun to watch a cricket game, and I may try to watch some on campus, if I can find out more information about that.

I recently read and studied the July-September 2007 issue of Australian Geographic magazine, which is the Journal of The Australian Geographic Society. The magazine emphasizes landscape, native species of animals, insects, and plants of Australia. The main articles and topics involve fresh waters of Australia, such as billabongs, as well as the surrounding ocean. Other articles included the history of the land and the people. The main purpose of this magazine is to inform and educate natives of Australia as well as persuading them to buy goods with the various advertisements throughout the magazine. Australians are the main audience for this magazine. This can be assumed, because of the contact information from the back of the magazine that states, "Drop into any Australian Geographic store." However, it may also be meant for other countries due to the fact that the magazine provides an international telephone number to call for a subscription.
One of the articles I found intriguing is titled, "Adventures Branch Out: Modern-Day Explorers Climb the Tallest Tropical Trees." It amazed me to see the pictures of scientists/adventurists climbing trees as high as 85.7 meters; one of the world's tallest beanstock koompassia trees. I had no idea people actually do this sort of thing for a living especially in Australia. Another article that caught my attention dealt with leeches, richardsoniamus australis, being used as microsurgical aides. Australia is home to over 40 leech species that have treated insomnia, gout, headaches, cancer, and even obesity for over 3000 years. It is incredibly interesting to know that leeches are caught in nets and commonly used in Australia to assist with reattachment of fingers and toes. Also intriguing are the benefits in plastic surgery by relieving congestion and re-establishing blood flow.

Lecture 6 –Society: All Blacks vs. Wallabies began by talking about the different self defined national characters that exist in OZ and NZ, and the idea that these national characters would show up in their inhabitant’s behaviors. First we looked at how NZers tend to think of themselves as "handy guys with English accents", concentrating especially on the utility of their behaviors. The claim has also been made that they are very "English" but with out the aristocracy, especially the extreme poverty. Finally we discussed their very positive self image which borders on "self congratulatory". Next we moved onto the OZ self image, and how it is mainly built on "bush values" and the idea of mateship. In contrast, however, we learned that OZ today is actually highly urbanized which conflicts with very few people still living in the bush. OZ is similar to NZ in that the society is not stratified, but more of a society of regular people just living. Both countries have scene a comeback in their native populations and also an increase in non-European immigrant populations. NZ, in contrast to OZ, still has a lot of people living in rural settings; however its cities are growing. Finally we touched on sports in both societies and how self identity is expressed through them.

It was extremely surprising to hear that although OZ likes to think of its self as a bush country, most of its inhabitants live in urban settings. It almost makes Australians sound like a bunch of posers. NZ on the other hand sounds like its self image matches up more with reality, even though it is exaggerated in its own way. This leads me to wonder how much the self image of the U.S. would match up to what others might perceive as reality. I also thought it was rather funny that NZ is very into the utility of behaviors, but they still like to have tea. I fail to see the utility in tea time.

North & South is a general interest magazine. Anyone who walks past it could pick it up and read it, since there is a wide range of information in it to read. This magazine really has it all. I have the January 2008 issue of it, and the main things in this issue are 12 extraordinary New Zealanders and lots of tips for the summer. Since this issue is the beginning of a new year, they have the top 12 extraordinary people in New Zealand. This in a way reminds me of how People magazine does the top sexiest males or something like that. It also reminds me of when Time magazine does one of their top people of the year or the world. North & South had the categories of, Art & Entertainment, IT & Communication, Science, Community, Sports, Environment, Everyday Heroes, Business, Education, and Young Achiever. They, of course, have the TOP New Zealander of the Year and that title went to Philip Bagshaw. Philip is a surgeon who was able to raise money to get new equipment for the hospital that he works in. Philip pretty much operates on anyone who really needs it. He doesn't like seeing people who need surgery suffer, so he does the surgery for them. His hospital is a charitable hospital. When I turned to see who was the Top New Zealander of the Year in Sports, I was kind of assuming that it would be a person who plays footie or something. It turned out to be Mahe Drysdale and he is a sculler, which in our terms is a rower. Mahe is practicing for the Olympics this year in Beijing. His time in the 2000m is the time to beat the games. The other big thing in this issue was the Best of Summer section. In it they wrote about songs that sum up the summer, survival tips for campgrounds, they gave recipes for drinks and other things. They gave the best beach escapes, forgotten summer fashion, and other fun stuff like that. Reading this was kind of hard, since they have nice weather there and everyone here has spring fever. I really enjoyed looking at and reading this magazine. It seems to me like it would be one of the top sellers for magazines in New Zealand. The articles are all interesting and fun to read. I think that anyone in the society would read this, it touches everyone

The first article that caught my eye on the New Zealand Herald website was titled "Public Hospitals in Staffing Crisis". The public hospital system is having a hard time keeping junior doctors which has started to become a major problem. In order to solve this the Resident Doctors' Association has requested to have a large increase in pay for these doctors, who previously, have been leaving the public hospital system to work in locum jobs, which were stated to pay almost three times as much. On the other side of this, it is believed that the presence of the locum jobs is actually keeping these doctors in this country. This article caught my eye because I am aspiring to go to medical school, and it's interesting to see what goes on in this field in other countries. Maybe I should move to New Zealand?

In Australian Rules, Gary Black lives in South Australia and plays football. His friends and family call him Blacky. Blacky is not like his other family members, he enjoys reading and expanding his vocabulary, which his mother helps him with. Blacky's dad is a drunk, and everyone but the oldest boy like to avoid him as much as they can. Since Blacky never went to his dad for anything, he would go to his neighbor Darcy and talk to him about things that he was having problems with. He lives in a small town where racism is a given. Most of the boys on the football team are from an adjacent Aboriginal township. The Aboriginal Township is known as "the Mish". One of Blacky's best friends is Dumby Red, and Dumby is a natural at playing football. Dumby is from "the Mish" just like all the other players on the team. The Grand Final is coming up, and one of the star players is arrested, so the coach puts Blacky in his place on the field. Blacky starts to fall in love with Dumby's sister, Clarence, but this isn't taken very well by the community of the small town. Interracial relationships were not taken very well in the town. The Grand Final was a very good game, and the team played quite well.

The code of football called Australian Rules is a style invented in Melbourne in the late 1850s and codified in 1859 making it the oldest code of football in the world.

Ok, so I don't think that I have ever heard so much swearing as I did in this movie. One of Blacky's friends, all he does is swear every other word. I really like the movie except for the fact that when the people talked, their lips didn’t match up with the words that they spoke. It got a little annoying toward the middle of the movie. Darcy was always seen dealing with maggots or with pig guts or something disgusting like that, and it is kind of nasty, but it kept it interesting to see what he would have the next time you saw Darcy. This makes sense since he is in the bait business, since the town is a fishing town. Besides for the swearing, which got better towards the middle, this movie was really good. It was interesting to see them play footie. There is always the one team that gets their butts handed to them in the first half. It was also pretty sweet to see a fight break out during the game, anytime there is a fight during the game it makes the movie. This is a good movie to watch to see the team working as one and coming back and making things happen.

The Film “An Angel At My Table” was originally a mini-series which was made into a movie. The movie is about the true story of Janet Frame. Frame is a really sensitive girl living in New Zealand. She is born into a poor family and has many brothers and sisters. She is a different girl from the begging and she only gets weirder as the film goes on. The film is a real downer type movie but has a great triumphant message. Frame manages to escape the troubled childhood and pursues her dream to become a teacher. She earns her chance to teach but blows it and is forced to quit as she cannot handle teaching. Frame then decides she wants to become a writer. She has a mental breakdown and is forced to move into an insane asylum for over eight years. The stay there seemed to be very frightening for her. It is unclear whether she started writing while she was locked up or before she was committed but while she is in the asylum she gets one of her books of poetry published. She manages to get discharged from the hospital and goes on to become the most decorative poet in New Zealand’s history. She even gets to move to England where she falls in love for the first time. The film is a dark one which takes a lot to watch. It’s tough to see the poor girl in all her misery but it is fun to see her succeed. This movie would benefit us studying Australia and New Zealand because it shows the life of one of the countries greatest writers.

The Dish is a fun comedy that takes a light-hearted look at an historical event. The film documents Australia's role in communicating with and broadcasting the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. Sam Neil (Jurassic Park, In the Mouth of Madness) and Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld, Family Guy) star as two scientists overseeing a large satellite situated in a sheep field near a small Australian town. Neil plays Bill Buxton, an Aussie scientist and Warburton portrays Al Burnett a project overseer from NASA. Despite the best efforts of Burnett , Buxton and his crew flub up the mission and face a mountain of adversity before their successful broadcast of the moon walk. This is a very light comedy that works in almost every way. The film's only weakness lies in the cheesy love story between Glenn (Tom Long) and Janine (Eliza Szonert), and the "rebellious 60s teenager" whom is just too archetypical to be taken seriously. These portions are cliché and stale. Dr. Isern has referred many times to Australia and the US being "mates." This film demonstrates this relationship, as America is portrayed as a great friend of Australia, which the latter country does not want to disappoint. The soundtrack is pretty great throughout, with many recognizable American hits--there is an excellent scene which includes a cover of the "Hawaii 5-O Theme" which should not be missed. The Dish is a fun and nostalgic movie that had very little problems; it presents an historical event in a fun and accessible fashion that most should enjoy on a comedic level in no other.

North & South is a general interest magazine published in New Zealand. Bearing the tagline, "Thinking New Zealand" the periodical presents a wide array of topics concerning political, cultural and social affairs throughout the country. The issue I chose to read was the May 2007 edition which featured "The Power of Over-40s Women" as the cover story. This was an interesting article which presented parallels between the US and NZ in terms of "ageism" directed toward this portion of society and offers examples of women who have overcome adversity to succeed in their respective fields. The other featured segments include a retrospective on the life of a well-known former heroin addict titled "Junkie Reincarnate Tim Harding," and an article detailing a young up and coming filmmaker. These were well-written stories that I could see appearing in American magazines such as The New Yorker or The New York Times Magazine. The other two feature articles tie well into our discussions on mythhistory, or the creation of a cultural identity. In an article titled "Mind That Child" the author, Jenny Chamberlain, presents a bill banning "smacking" as a means of correcting child behavior in a positive light. She insists that this is a "crucial step" in addressing NZ's "shameful child abuse record." The bill then, would be characterized as another step in NZ's progression as a socially advanced nation. The final featured article, "Wide White Land" explore the special place the exploration of Antarctica has had on NZ's history and culture. Beyond these features, there are many small articles focusing on various interesting people, places or things within NZ. Overall, the magazine was entertaining and interesting and could be enjoyed by nearly any segment of society.

As many of you know, the rabbit proof fence is a story of three aboriginal girls, Molly, Daisy and Gracie, who in the 1930’s escaped the Moore River Native settlement and returned home to Jigalong by use of the rabbit proof fence. I have viewed the movie and have just finished the book which for obvious reasons is very different. For instance, the movie puts a lot of emphasis on the Chief Protector of the Aborigines Mr. Neville where he is hardly mentioned in the book. Also the book talks about the Marbu “sharp-toothed, flesh-eating evil spirit that has been around since Dreamtime” that is used to scare the children so they do not try to escape. I do not recall this being incorporated into the movie. Also, the introduction and first couple chapters of the book give us some detail into the life of an Aborigine which is not in the movie. The author of the book, Doris Pilkington, states that Aborigines were illiterate and did not use numbers or dates. “Nature was their social calendar, everything was measured by events and incidents affected by seasonal changes. … time was also marked by activities of cultural and ceremonial significance…Seasonal time and not numbers is important in recounting this journey.”

To start from the beginning, the girls were removed from their homeland because it was believed that they were not being treated fairly. Because of the fact that they were half-caste children, the other children would not play with them and only ridiculed them. The girls sailed for five days down the West coast to arrive at the port of Fremantle and then on to Perth. The movie has no account of their experiences on the way to the settlement. The book makes it seem that the girls actually enjoyed their experience as they traveled to Perth. They saw large bodies of water and vegetation that they had never seen before. Missing their family seemed to be the only thing that drove them to walk across the rough terrain of Australia for nine weeks.

There were few similarities between the book and the movie. The use of farmhouses and stations for food and shelter was the only thing that seemed to match up. If you have seen the movie I strongly urge you to read the book and get the real account of what happened. The movie was good at dramatizing everything but left out the happy times (even though few). The book gives the story from the side of an Aboriginal where the movie is made only to entertain and not educate.

I looked at the Dec/Jan 2008 issue of Outback magazine and found it very interesting. The purpose of this magazine is easy enough, to make money. The audience of this magazine, however, is more difficult to understand. It is called Outback magazine and is in the most part about Australia's outback and the people that live there. However, the magazine is probably expensive and is probably sold mostly to people who live in the cities, like Sydney. So obviously the average person in Australia looks at this magazine as a representation of what and who they are; but are they? One of the articles in the magazine was about a man who considered himself a bushman, in 1983 he was in a accident and "finished up" with a broken neck. When he woke up some weeks later the first question he asked was if anyone knew where his R.M. Williams boots were. His wife responded to him saying they were cut off; he goes on to say that he is paralyzed in an electric wheel chair and he can handle that just fine but the thought of someone cutting off his R.M. Williams boots he will never forget. That is very interesting to me, he sees his boots more of a representative of what he is than his body! The thought of someone cutting off his boots is like someone taking his identity away from him. As far as the nature of the magazine, the pictures are beautiful and portray what seem to be very real circumstances. There are many Ute advertisements and even some issues of Outback magazine called Bush Utes and Street Utes. Other than that it does remind me of an American magazine without the drama and he said she said to it.

Lecture six started with the founding mythologies of Australia and New Zealand. Australia was a convict settlement with an obstreperous class consciousness. Although many settlers to the area were English they are defiant about it and say they are not English. New Zealand was a planned colony with a classless society being that everyone was middle class. Even though many Australians eventually migrated to New Zealand, New Zealanders refuse to be known as Australian.

The word Anglo-Celtic refers to cultures that are native to Britain and Ireland. This includes areas such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States. In both Australia and New Zealand there was a lack of diversity in the settlers. When New Zealand was first settled it had a lack of diversity due to its planned colonization. Due to Australia being a convict settlement, the majority of the population was male. Despite the fact that Australia had an all white policy Asians started immigrating there. As for New Zealand their planned settlement soon changed once Polynesians started to immigrate there.

Rugby, also called footie, is a popular sport in both New Zealand and Australia. It has been defined as a fast paced combination of speed, athleticism, skill and physical toughness. The all blacks are from New Zealand and are the most successful international rugby organization in history and look at rugby as the definition of masculinity. The rugby heroes of Australia are called the Wallabies. This game can be very aggressive and at times bloody. Other sports of New Zealand and Australia are net ball and cricket.

My point of interest was the discussion about women in society. Women in both New Zealand and Australian societies were treated brutally. In Australia it is believed that the degradation of men brought on the brutalization of women. Women were thought of as not useful, except of course for the use in bodily pleasures. Also, Dr. Isern had said that prostitution is legal in New Zealand, is this so in Australia too?

For the Radio Report I listened to the call-in show, Australia Talks. On Thursday, March 20, the topic was the War in Iraq after five years. Australian forces are planning to withdraw from Iraq in the coming months. The people who were talking on the radio were thinking that the coalition forces should withdraw from Iraq and the United Nations should go in and establish a "stabilization force" in order to help the Iraqis rebuild their country.

I thought this program was very interesting and showed me what the Australians think about the War in Iraq and the Americans. It really hit me when one of the women callers said that Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be sent to the International Criminal Court for War Crimes what other countries think about the Americans and the War in Iraq. Another caller said that the Iraq War, like the Vietnam War, had no benefit on the citizens there. He also did not think that Australia should go into the wars with the Americans and go their separate ways. The people who called in were all very critical about the war and American’s involvement.

I thought this radio program was fascinating. It was interesting to learn what the Australians think about the War in Iraq and what they believe should be done in the future and what should be done in order to stabilize Iraq when the troops start to be withdrawn. There are many people in Australia, just like in America, who believe that the war was a waste of time, money, and resources and has done nothing beneficial for anyone. This program really showed how alike Australians and Americans are in their views on the War in Iraq and how nobody knows the best way to withdraw from the country.

Ten Canoes was a very entertaining story about an aboriginal community. The beginning is quite confusing because it is a story about a story. It begins with with a young man named Diendae and he was in love with his brothers wife; everyone in the village knows it and an elder decides to tell him a story so he can live a better life. One day a stranger came to the village and they thought he was involved in black magic. Soon after one of the wives of Diendae's brother went missing and her husband thought the stranger must have stolen her. Soon after, Diendae's brother spots the stranger again and decides to kill him. This causes turmoil between the tribes and they decide to settle it by letting men from the other tribe through spears at Diendae and his brother until one of them was hit. Diendae's brother gets hit and soon dies; soon after, the wife that disappeared returns and finds out her husband has died and she now belongs to Diendae.

I think the purpose of this story is to teach patience. It was a very good movie and was not exactly what I was expecting. The title didn't really have anything to due with the movie and the aborigines were more like us than I thought they would be. I found it funny how they joked just like we due and everyone had obsessions just like we due. Overall I really enjoyed the movie and it opened my eyes, even a little more, about the history of Australia.

The film Rabbit Proof Fence is about three young Aboriginal girls in Australia during the early 1930s. These three girls, though Aborigines, their fathers were all Euro-Australian men who had been working on the rabbit proof fence. The fence runs across the continent. During the 1930s until the 1970s, these children of "mixed" blood were taken from their families and placed in orphanages. It was the belief that by the third generation, that the Aborigine blood could be bred out of the decedents of the "mixed" blood. The three girls, Molly, Daisy and Gracie were taken from their mothers after their fathers had moved on to continue on the fence. Once they were placed in their orphanage, Molly decided that they were going to escape and walk back to their families. The only problem was outsmarting and outrunning the Aborigine tracker. The three young girls managed to get away and stay clear after a few close calls of being caught by the tracker. A few people along the way managed to help the girls the best they could by providing some food and shelter. One man was paid to trick the girls into going to a train station to meet their mothers. Gracie left Molly and Daisy and was caught and taken back to the orphanage. Molly and Daisy did make it back to their family and hid out in the desert to prevent having to go to the orphanage. The amazing feat was that they had crossed over 1500 miles of the Australian outback by foot. This film was definitely heart wrenching. From the emotion of the mothers and grandmothers loosing their children to the girls in the orphanage being forever separate from their families, this film portrayed a true story of a shameful, recent history in Australia. At the end of the film, Molly narrates that after hiding in the desert she married and had children of her own. She had made that same journey after she had been caught later in life for the second time. For her own misfortune, her very own daughter was taken from her the same way she was from her mother.

In the movie The Whale Rider, Maori chief, Koro, expects his son to produce an heir. His son, Porourangi looses both his wife and his one son during childbirth of his twins. The one remaining was his daughter whom he names Pai. The tradition of the Maori people was that their ancestor, Paikea rode a whale from the land of their ancestors to New Zealand and that Koro's line of genealogy is to produce a male to continue Paikea's lineage. Stricken with grief, Koro's son runs away and leaves New Zealand. Pai is left to be raised by her grandparent. It is often evident that Koro loves Pai but most of the time he is disappointed that she isn't a male. Pai only wants to please her grandfather and to be loved by him. Since Koro doesn't have a male heir, he calls upon the young Maori boys of his village and in hope that one will prove themselves to become chief. After almost completing their training in the traditions of Maori culture, Koro catches Pai secretly training as well. He is offended that a female would attempt to learn the male traditions and is disgraced by Pai. She calls out to the whales to help her grandfather. The whales respond and become beached. Koro observes the whales and feels that the end of Paikea's lineage and the Maori village is eminent. The only one who can save the whales is Pai as she takes her place on the whale she believed to be Paikea's whale and rides her whale out to sea. It is then that her grandfather realizes that she truly is the heir to become chief. The beauty of this film is that is lets the viewers experience life and traditions of the Maori people in New Zealand. From traditional Maori long boats, the language, culture, oral and genealogical traditions to singing and dancing, this movie covers all of it.

In the World"s Fastest Indian, a New Zealander named Burt Munro works on his old bright red 1920 Indian model of his motorcycle. Burt is a legendary speed bike racer who set many land speed records. He set a lot of his records while racing in Utah. There are some younger guys that challenge him to a race on the beach, and it is pretty funny at first because Burt"s bike does not work and he needs someone to push him, but in the end he ends up beating them. Right when Burt is thinking about going to America to race his bike, he has to be rushed to the hospital. But do you think that something like problems with the arteries by your heart would stop him, you better believe it won't. Burt longs to go back to Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to try and set yet another record for the speed that his Indian model motorcycle can reach. On his way to Utah, he meets many obstacles that he must overcome to get to Speed Week in Utah. While in California, he goes to buy a car, and he tries to drive the car well let’s just say that that was not the best idea. The cars salesmen lets Burt work on some of the cars and in return he gives Burt a "trailer" so that he can get his bike to Utah. When his bike was shipped there was stuff dropped on top of the crate that his bike was in, but it turned out to be just fine. He meets many new and interesting people like he has never seen before. There are many other obstacles that he has to overcome, and it all turns out great in the end!

I loved this movie, it was a good story of triumph for Burt Munro. Anthony Hopkins plays Burt Munro very well. When one of his neighbors tells him that he should mow his lawn, so that the property value of the other houses doesn't go down, he starts his lawn on fire so that he will not have to mow it at all. Burt (Anthony) makes the movie what it is. I really cannot imagine what this movie would be like with someone else playing Burt. The way that little Tommy admires Burt and is always at his house helping out, is amazing. It was also really odd seeing Anthony playing a part like this. I have never seen him in a movie like this before. This movie is a little more uplifting then any of the ones that I have seen him in. I would definitely recommend watching this movie to anyone. I had a couple of good laughs while watching this, so it is definitely worth watching.

Australians switched off their lights for 60 minutes Saturday to mark "Earth Hour," a campaign by environmentalists to raise awareness about global warming. The event was started a year ago in Sydney by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The campaign has spread to major cities worldwide - from Dublin to Chicago and Bangkok to Manila - making Earth Hour 2008 a global movement. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.

Continue reading...

Rabbit Proof Fence is a film about the journey three mixed aboriginal girls (Molly, Gracie, Daisy) make after escaping from Moore River Native Settlement. The girls were in the settlement because they were taken from their homes in order to be taught the ways of the white man. Whites also wanted to end the half caste race. He wanted to get rid of the generation of children with white fathers and Aborigine mothers. One day, the girls decide to escape from the camp and find their way back home. They wanted to go back to their mothers in their home of Jigalong. They use the rabbit proof fence stretching across the country as a guide. A tracker is sent to find the girls as soon as it is known that they escaped. Along the way, the girls are helped by some settlers. I think it's interesting that the people who helped the girls were white and their tracker was an Aborigine.
I think this movie illustrates an important part of Australia's history. It shows some of the terrible things that Aborigines had to go through. After watching this, I would like to know more about the "stolen generation." I also think that I want to read the book. I liked the movie, and usually the book is more detailed. Sometimes movies tend to be historically inaccurate in order to be more cinematic, so I think reading the book would add more to my knowledge of the "stolen generation."

I read an article in the New Zealand Herald this morning discussing an unexpected growth of the economy is the final quarter of 2007. However, financial advisers are not taking this very seriously because of the many factors that are disrupting the economy already such as rising oil prices, rising food prices, and rising mortgage rates. This sounds eerily familiar.

The same economic stresses that New Zealanders are facing are the same that we in fact are facing ourselves. How are they handling it? How does their currency compare to the U.S. dollar? These are some questions that I will have to do a little more research to find out.

I would also be interested in knowing what kinds of taxation the people of New Zealand have developed over time. Do they issue "Economic Stimulus Packages" to try to prevent the country from going into a recession? The more I read about New Zealand, the more I find out that they share a lot of the problems that we do.

In a separate article I read that Auckland has grown so much in recent years that some families have been forced to double-up or live in garages to make ends meet. This was due housing shortages and increases in rent. Some families were said to have been paying $495 per week for a 3-bedroom house.

I can see how overcrowding would be a problem in New Zealand for the same reasons it is for Japan. Inabilities for expansion and lack of places to build other than up. I would be interested to know what their outmigration numbers have been in recent years.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10500670
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/8/story.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10500391

All right, this is a post about the most awesome nature show host "The Wildlife Man." Though his title may seem hokey, he definitely lives up to it. He's this crazy Australian dude who runs around doing things no one should ever do with incredibly dangerous animals--sound familiar? The Wildlife Man, however, also has this interesting habit of having seemingly intimate conversations with these animals, often times scolding them into not attacking. Anyhow, his show is on National Geographic Channel or HD Theater, and it rules.

This lecture talked about the societies of both Australia and New Zealand. It looked over the mindset of each culture and what is a major part of their day to day life. We started off talking about how society needs to be traced back to the origins of settlement. In both cultures there is a strong connection to the past, even if their beliefs don't necessary match up with their behaviors. This was a good lecture to help understand some of the more personal beliefs that the every day person might have about their culture and country.
There is also a strong national connection to sports such as cricket and rugby. They use these sports as a way to connect to their fellow countrymen (maybe even a reason to cheer against them) as well as reason to step into the national arena. It struck me when thinking about their longing to beat Britain in all sports as a way of defining themselves. This shows up with the U.S. when it comes to a famous golf match called the Ryder Cup. This is a game between Americans and Europeans, and it has a lot of controversy surrounding it.
Something that stood out to me was how Australians don't want to be thought of as British, and that New Zealanders don't want to be thought of as Australian. Both of these ideas are a good example of wanting to be their own country, rather than being thought of as coming from somewhere else.
I also liked the twist Prof. Isern put on the belief of being an outback kind of people versus the reality of becoming a more urban/suburban culture. This goes along with the thesis put forth in class about a self-defined national character, and the ever present idea of national identity.

Check out what I just found on the Sydney Morning Hearld website. My Microbiology teacher told us about it before our test, but I didn't belive her, but now I do. This is crazy!! You have to read this!


http://www.smh.com.au/news/unusual-tales/nz-man-jailed-for-wombat-rape-claim/2008/03/28/1206207344849.html

Since Dr. Isern mentioned some items in class today could be viewed about OZ & NZ on YouTube, I thought I'd see what else I could find. I typed in "New Zealand," and several extreme videos came up in the search so I thought I'd share a some of them.

The video about canyoning is my favorite of the ones below. It's long but it is good all the way through. These videos show just how extreme New Zealanders are, much like Dr. Isern has told us several times in class. In addition, you can see just how beautiful the landscape is. Well, enjoy!
Bungee Jumping: New Zealand-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GtaO08UQQM
Jet Boat New Zealand-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbN4tvQD3Jk
Extreme Kayaking in New Zealand-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57awIjtbPU (Odd beginning & odd pieces throughout... but still good. Also, note the guy with a bloody face but still smiling, lol!)
Crossing New Zealand by Powered Paraglider-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzSg76GlvxA
Spot X New Zealand-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCFkj9A_5ms
Diving Poor Knights Island, New Zealand-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ_g-Pud4JQ
Canyoning in New Zealand-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOoFJvKFh3I&feature=related

I heard a song awhile back on the radio and something made me look it up today. It's called "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" by Rolf Harris. The song is about an Australian heardsman on his deathbed telling his friends his last wishes. This song was written and recorded in the 1960s, was popular all over the world, and reached #3 on the Billboard music chart in 1963.

Wikipedia has some interesting information and links regarding this song (including a reference to Fargo):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tie_Me_Kangaroo_Down,_Sport

You can find the complete lyrics here:
http://www.jacquedee63.com/tiemekangaroodownsport.html

And YouTube has about 75 videos for it:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tie+me+kangaroo+down&search_type=

It's a great song. It's interesting to see how this became popular all over the world. You'll have to decide if it's a great song.

Breaker Morant was a very interesting movie which explained the rules of war. The movie starts off with three Australian soldiers being court marshaled because of the way they handled a situation with a defenseless Boer soldier. After their leader was killed and dismembered, Morant and his men track down the Boer gorillas that killed his friend/college and kill as many of them as possible. When most of the Boer soldiers escape without being killed, Morant takes out his anger on an unarmed Boer soldier who hid in one of the wagons. Morant decides to put the man to death and orders it done by firing squad. During the trial, the rules of war are explained when the actions of Morant are questioned. The main point that Morant makes at trial is that the war against the Boer was a different kind of war, and they had been given orders to kill all prisoners. Eventually all three men on trial were found guilty of murder. Two of the men including Morant were put to death by a shooting squad, and the other man who was basically a boy was given life in prison instead of death. This movie was a little slow paced but also helped to give a feel to the Boer war and how the fighting took place. The British gave orders to kill prisoners and then covered it up when those issues came to trial. They also gave the solders defense lawyer one day to prepare for trial. One interesting fact about the movie was that Morant got his first name “Breaker” because he was excellent at breaking in horses when he lived in Australia. Overall this movie was pretty good and did a good job of showing some real events of the Boer war.

Well, this movie was interesting to say the least. The movie starts out with a girl named Lucinda being totally in love with a guy named Rob. After Rob gives Lucinda a ring while they are doing dishes in the bath tub, Lucinda begins to question their relationship. Lucinda’s best friend doesn’t help the situation when she decides to hit on Rob. The whole situation gets totally out of control when Lucinda sells all of Robs cows as a test of their love. The cows were traded to an old Maori woman for a quilt that had been Rob and Lucinda’s quilt in the first place. There is no chance that the Maori women will give the cows back because they are worth 400,000 dollars, so Rob basically looses his mind and moves into his friend’s cold garage where he sleeps and lives for a while. Eventually Rob and Lucinda’s best friend Drosophilia hook up and plan to get married. In the end Rob figures out what has happened and gets his cows back. The problem is that Lucinda gets Rob’s cows back but can’t be with Rob. In the end Rob looses Lucinda because she tells Rob that she loves him. Whoever reads this movie review probably won’t know what is going on, and that’s because I really didn’t understand what the heck was going on the entire movie. The movie had an old Maori woman who was always cold so she had a bunch of guys steal quilts from people. Eventually she doesn’t need the quilts anymore because her guys build her a personal heating plant. Don’t ask me what that was all about. The movie was really weird but it was also funny which made watching it ok, I guess.

Does anyone know what slygrogging means? It's on page 282 in the text.

The film "Heavenly Creatures" is a film based in a small New Zealand town and centers around a teenage girl. The film is directed by Peter Jackson, who won huge respect with the direction of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The movie begins by introducing us to a young girl who is a bit of an outcast and who is a bit odd. Then, a new girl arrives at her school and befriends her. The two begin hanging out all the time and are best friends very quickly. Their friendship quickly turns into more than a friendship, and they become girlfriends. Both of these young girls have very wild imaginations and their imaginations are a very big part of the movie. They invent a new "heaven" in which their favorite musicians and movie stars will live in. The parents of these young girls become concerned with the girls relationship, especially when they realize it has become sexual. They decide it is best for the girls to be seperated. This angers the girls, and they decide the best way to be together is to murder the main girls mom. After weeks of planning, the day comes and they kill her mother. Both went to jail for the murder, and the nation was stunned. This happened during the 1950's.
What I found very interesting about this movie was the girl who arrived at the school had come from England and had already been to many parts of the world. When she was younger she had gotten sick and had been sent to the Bahamas to heal in the warmer weather. Then her family moves from England to New Zealand as her father is offered a teaching position at a college there. After a couple years her father decides to move back to England, and when she becomes sick again, they want to send her to South Africa. It interests me that even in the 1950's, the Bahamas, New Zealand, and South Africa are all still considered part of the "Empire" and people in these countries still feel British. This correlates with what Professor Isern is teaching us about how New Zealander's still feel a very strong connection with Britain.

Whale Rider is a film which highlights the difficulity of Maori people transitioning to the lifestlye of today. Which the culture of the people must adapt to the changing world around them. The tale involves the chieftain of a small clan of maori, his family and the struggle for him to find the next cheftain. Through various lore passed down through oral history the ways in which the cheftain must be selected has very direct and finite selction process. But the one thing in which is extremely dire is that the cheftain must be male, and of direct liniage from the ancient ones. Other wise it will need to be a selection process for the remaining boys. The cheftains grandaughter, whos mother died at her birth as well as her brother, who is intelligent beyond her years realizes these things, and that her grandfather is looking for the next chieftain. Soon he sets up the selection process for the young boys and does not allow for her to join in the "school". Soon though Pai, the granddaughter has her uncle teaching the various skills she needs to become the cheftain. This without the knowledge of her grandfather. He still thinks of her as a problem, and who has brought the problems on the the clan of the maori by her being there. As the story traverese she girl Pai, does everything needed to gain the status of cheftain, as well as showing traits of leadership by the speech she has for she has written for her grandfather at school.
At this point the story turns from being one of simply becoming cheftain but, about how the cheftain needed to be a leader of new sorts. One who could lead the Maori clan into the new life, find some sort of drive, a way for them to become a proud people again. The story became about the challanges of an indigenous people who must have a leader who understood how life was changing them, and how to lead the people to a direction of prosperity.
It was a very good over all video which highlighted the history and cluture of maori, as well as the struggles of integrating into the industrialized world the maori might have today. The video also showed many sences of wild life and nature around New Zealand which offered considerable insight into the climate and nature of the islands of New Zealand.
Very enlightening video.
Dan Hillukka

I keep forgetting to announce this, so I'll do it in the blog. A couple of people, most recently Abby Ihrke, have asked me about doing assignments that don't exactly fit a category in the grading scheme. I have said I will institute a Wild Card category of assignment. So here it is.

Wild Card: a brief, 10-point report on something that contributes to the discourse of the course (informs us about the history of Australia & New Zealand). 250 words. It should involve a level of study or inquiry comparable to other 10-point assignments in the course.

A rudimentary rubric: 6 points for content of the report; 3 for pointing out its significance; and 1 for matters of style.

This film is based on the book by the same name written about the author’s mother, Molly, and two other young children Daisy and Gracie who were taken from their homes in Jigalong. These three girls were put in the Moore River Native Settlement to turn them away from their culture and embrace a new European one. Molly, Daisy, and Gracie escape and walked nearly 1500 miles back home with the constant fear of being caught and sent back. When they finally returned their families went into hiding so that government officials could not take them away again. They all made it back with the exception of Gracie who was caught and taken back. Thought Molly would again be taken back to Moore River and would once again walk all the way back with her youngest daughter, leaving behind her eldest who would later write her story.

Before I watched the film I had read the novel and I have to say that I thought the director did a very good job at keeping to the original story. As far as I could tell the only part of the story that was exaggerated was the presence of the tracker who in the book was mention only briefly. I thought that the director was able to accurately show the misery of their kidnapping, imprisonment and journey through the Australian bush but also keeps true the hope and joy in their return home. The cast of the film did a superb job of making us identify with the characters. While the actresses who portrayed Molly and the two younger girls kept you glued to the movie and hope for their return, Kenneth Branagh made you despise the calm and uncaring nature of the Chief Protector of the Aborigines. It is the terrible reality that makes this movie so important to the people of today. So that we don’t forget and that these people don’t fade from memory, and that we continue to learn from them and see how these events are still important. While we say that what these girls went through was awful, we in the United States put into motion many of the same things. It is from these events that we can see the culture of a people and how that culture changes through time.

Kelly Heilman

Pimp movie!!! This mute chick is sent all the way to New Zealand to marry some settler guy who seems desperate to retain english traditions that are ridiculous in the atmosphere and surroundings like his hair combing, suit, and filthy top hat and what was with the picture in the rain? That was just stupid. And her lover? He has to be one of the creepiest characters I've seen in a while, but how rare is it to see male full frontal, ha!

Pertaining to the course, it is worthwhile to note the maori reaction to the play. They did not seem to understand the meaning of make-believe, and they ran to the aid of the wife who was about to get "killed". Also, it is quite the contrast to see how the maoris converse about sexual matters in comparison to the uppity english.

There seemed to be different groups of maoris, ones who dressed english and played domestic roles, and the ones who took stewart's buttons. The english seemed to have assumed different roles as well. George was more attuned to the world of the maori as evidenced by his facial tattoos and interactions with them.

The other ladies on the island were utter nitwits. The old lady made people hold up a privacy curtain for her to pee without anyone seeing...in the middle of nowhere. That's just stupid. They also must have spent ridiculous amounts of time putting their hair into stupid looking curls around their faces. They should have put on some pants and expanded the system of mud planks so they wouldn't have to rely on the maori to cart their oversized english bums over the mud.

TEN CANOES

This film was quite different than the others and gave great insight into the tribal ways of Abriginal life before the English settlers came to Australia. This film is a narrated for a story that has happened and one that is happening. It is sort of confusing at first, but you get used to it with the aid of color vs. black and white picture.

The film tells a story of patience and tribal law concerning wives and marriage. A young man wants another's youngest wife, and things get a little confusing for the women and men, until one disappears. No one is really quite sure what happens, and the truth is found out too late. That is the basic plot outline of the film.

You see practical building of canoes. The title of the film, in my opinion, doesn't really relate to the story. It does show a way of life and sustainability for the people. You see how each person lives and what their vices are, including Birinbirin, who goes buck wild for honey.

I did like this because out of all the others I've viewed, this one had Aboriginals that were not effected by white men. I'm glad you get to see that because, although it's a movie, you get a great glimpse into their lives. One thing that surprised me was their language and word choice. I guess I took for granted that they wouldn't swear and joke but I was way off. It was really quite funny to read what they were actually saying.

All in all, this was another good movie that showed great things about the Aboriginals. Check this one out for a good view of their lifestyle. Also, this movie has no clothes in it, so get ready for some skin.

Group 3: Monnie Knapp, Bryan Elstad, Matthew Kratcha, Holly Bodensteiner, Nathan Swenson, Sarah Land, Melainy Torkildson, Dallas Carlson

1) 1. Cultural Aspects
A. Religion
B. Food Culture
C. Traceable Origins
D. Traditions
2. Geography
A. Controlled by whats available
B. Climate
3. Government
A. Progress
B. System/hierarchy
C. caste system?
4. People
A. Influential
B. Common
5. Economy

2) 1. Religion
2. "English influenced"
3. People- makes heroes of ordinary people
A. Important people
B. Common
4. Sucesson from people to eventually when English came, it was then that 'history' started
5. Aboriginal/Natives/Savage and White relationship

3) Clark was quite one-sided
A. covers a lot
B. what was cut from the larger one??

4) A. less one sided
B. more about Aborigines
1. nothing in CLARK about amalgamation
C. tell everything how it was! (not from the view of the majority)
D. less religious references

The movie Breaker Morant, directed by Bruce Beresford, is not only an interesting war movie, but a look into the tensions between Australia and Britain at the time the movie was made (1980). The movie was set during the Boer War in the early twentieth century. The Boer War was a battle for South Africa between the British Empire and the Boers (mainly Dutch settlers). The plot of the movie takes over after three Australians get court martialed for executing prisoners that participated in the massacre of a British officer, despite these being direct orders from the British superiors. The movie is composed of the biased court proceedings accompanied with sporadic flashbacks to the war and prisoner executions. The three prisoners are portrayed as very likeable, noble Australians who have done nothing wrong. They are being court martialed to detract attention from the inhumane orders passed down from the British superiors. These prisoners are shrugged off by these superiors as sacrifices of war. The British are portrayed as arrogant, heartless snobs that will do anything to save their name.

This movie was almost painful to watch, being as these Australians were getting completely stabbed in the back by the country they were risking their lives for. The writers did an excellent job of creating hatred for the British authorities. Being as this movie was made not-so-coincidentally close to the time the British Empire joined the European trading market and economically stabbed Australia in the back. This movie is just translating the backstabbing into a more Hollywoodesque script. Breaker Morant was a very powerful look at wartime injustices, but the anti-Brit attitude of the 1980's makes you wonder if your getting an accurate portrayal of events or just a pissed off writer's rants.

Let me begin by saying that I have been an Anthony Hopkins fan since I saw the movie Instinct. A terrific movie if you have not seen it already.
In this movie, Burt Munro (Hopkins) is a sixty seven year old man who travels half way around the world to follow his dream of making his motorcycle the fastest Indian on earth. He spends most of his time modifying his beloved 1920s Indian motorcycle, and occasionally racing it against modern opponents. Burt is loved in his community for his friendly and charming personality; and for having been featured in Popular Mechanics magazine (May 1957 p6) for having the fastest motorcycle in Australia and New Zealand. However, that recognition is contrasted by his exasperated neighbors, who are fed up with his un-neighborly habits: like urinating on his lemon tree every morning, neglecting his yardwork, and most of all waking up before sunrise to rev his bike. Before Burt is scheduled to start his journey to the United States, he is diagnosed with serious heart problems and is told that his racing days are over. For 25 years he has dreamt of going to Bonneville and racing his Indian, so he ignores his doctor's advice to stay at home. Burt leaves for the United States, with most people doubting his ability to succeed, but Tom, the young boy who lives next door, believes in Burt. When Burt arrives in Los Angeles he experiences bureaucracy, skepticism and coldness of big city people. It is his blunt but gregarious nature which overcomes each hurdle. He wins over the hardened motel clerk, a transvestite named Tina, who assists him in clearing customs and helps him in buying a car. The car salesman allows Burt to use his shop to make a trailer and offers him a job. Burt then starts his long trip to Utah.
Along the way, Burt meets many people, including a Native American who aids him when his trailer fails, a woman named Ada who helps him repair his trailer and becomes his lover, and an Air Force pilot who is on a leave from his military service in Vietnam. Burt arrives at Bonneville in time for Speed Week, but is initially denied participation because he has failed to register in advance and his 40-year-old bike fails the technical and safety inspections. After winning the sympathy of other participants and officials, Burt is allowed to compete. After some practice runs and fine tuning, Burt sets a new record of 201 mph on his official run. The movie ends with Burt calling young Tom to proudly announce that his bike is "The World's Fastest Indian".It's really a David & Goliath story. Burt is comfortable in his own place, but he also wants to go out into the big world where you put yourself up against the biggest and the best to see what you are really made of. The story is quite personal and intimate because you never know what will happen next. That's really what's so endearing about this film. It's very human.
Roger Donaldson is an Australian born New Zealand film director. He is a perfectionist and it shows in the movie.
What I did not like about the movie was the portrayal of America as being a dirty place. I guess that's the privilege of making a movie is saying what you would like to say. That must also be a theme for the movie; The David & Goliath story I mentioned earlier. America is the big fast world that hardly bends to anyone or anything and Burt is the lion tamer coming in and making people realize that being nice is the better way to be. A very Kiwi way of looking at things.
Most of the character that Hopkins drew from Burt Munro came from the interview Munro had with Dick Rosetta of the Salt Lake Tribune. It seems a lot of lines also came from this interview. The boy, Tom, who supposedly lived next door actually never was. It was intended to be a representation of Donaldson years later after he had befriended Burt. Tim Shadbolt, who played Frank in the movie, is the current mayor of Invercargill City and well known amongst New Zealanders for his smile and enthusiastic approach to seemingly everything.
Burt Munro never had a lemon tree. That was a nod to the director's father.
All in all I thought it was a very empowering movie, one well worth watching.

In The Price of Milk a New Zealand cow farmer, Rob, proposes to his girlfriend Lucinda. Rob has 117 cows on his dairy farm. After Rob proposes to Lucinda, she is driving down the road looking at her ring, and hits an old Maori lady. Well after that things get a little odd for Lucinda. When she went to see if the Maori lady was ok, the lady said, "Keep warm". Lucinda has no idea what that means, but throughout the movie, she sure finds out. The night after she hit the lady, her quilt was taken while they were sleeping. Lucinda is obsessed with finding the quilt and getting it back. Lucinda is worried that the "spark" in their relationship is dying out, so she tests Rob's love for her. Lucinda’s friend Drosophilia is the one who convinces Lucinda to do the things to do that tests Rob's love. One of the things that Lucinda does is swim around in a vat of Rob's milk that he had gotten from his cows. Lucinda goes back to the old Maori lady to get her quilt back, and Lucinda in turns trades Rob's cows to get her quilt back. Rob is definitely not happy about this! He also loses his voice when he finds out that his cows have been traded. Rob's friends lets him live in his garage after Rob leaves Lucinda for trading the cows. Lucinda goes back and tries to trade anything she has to get the cows back from the Maori lady. Lucinda has to give up the ring that Rob gave her, and many other things in order to get Rob's cows back. Lucinda hears music and then goes to a church and finds Rob marrying Drosophilia. Let us just say that Lucinda is not very happy when she sees this. In the end, everything turns out just dandy, kind of like a fairy tale.

This is definitely a movie that kept me guessing what was going to happen and what Lucinda was going to do next to upset Rob. Another thing is when Rob and Lucinda were sitting out in a tub in the middle a field. Who does that?! Seriously, things just kept getting stranger and stranger in this movie. Their dog was in a box, you never saw him all you saw was the box. Lucinda has a box of little kids' shoes, again who has a box of little kids' shoes when you don’t have any children. The old Maori lady is not very normal either. The house follows Rob while he is walking, and the house rises up when the tractor drives toward it. This is movie is kind of like a movie in which everything is possessed.

This newspaper is very similar to the other ones that I have read, and to various papers within the United States. The first article that I read was about how the country is facing an increase of 7 percent in renting costs, which brings up the average rent to $300 a week. With more people wanting to rent, and landlords were feeling the pinch with the increase of mortgages, and insurance, all of this led to the reasoning for increasing the renting costs. People are getting paid more, so landlords feel that they will be able to afford a more expensive place.
The second article that I read was about the drinking age in the town of Whangarei. The mayor wants to lower the drinking age to 18, but they can only drink in clubs and bars, and cannot purchase alcohol in supermarkets and liquor stores until they are 20. He believes that this would reduce the amount of alcohol 16 year olds get, and the amount of bar fights that happen currently in the town.
The third article that I looked at was about how people are getting sick from toxic honey from the Coromandel. 10 people have gotten sick from this, with three of them having to be hospitalized. The Food Safety Authority has told people that if they have purchased any honey with the title "A Taste of Whangamata Pure Honey" to turn it into them so that way they can perform tests on the honey to see what is toxic in it.
These articles are really interesting, and it shows how similar New Zealand is to the United States, as both countries are facing the same issues. As a college student, the rent issue would be really important to me, as you are on a fixed income and with the increase; it makes it hard to afford someplace more expensive. The issue of the drinking age is a huge issue as it affects a lot of people and politicians are worried about the young voters.

Lecture five was kind of bland. It dealt with the economy of Australia and New Zealand. It seems to me the Australia can be looked at as a “great plains” area in that it is greatly agricultural and ranching oriented. New Zealand on the other hand does not have nearly as much land mass as Australia and have to depend on other resources such as fishing. I find it very interesting that they grow a lot of flax, ND is the leading flax producer in North America and I can see the connection between ND and NZ in that area.

The abundance of natural resources and precious metals and other materials also played a great role in the forming of Australia’s economy. The discovery of gold played a great role in the development of Australia. The Australian gold rush brought many people to the island. The discovery of Opal in Australia was also very important and opened up a whole new market in the country.

As time passed new inventions and improvement in technology helped to increase exports form Australia and New Zealand and make them more involved in the world market. England’s role in the world market also influenced Australia and New Zealand.

My main thought of this lecture is not very interesting but I do have one question. How big is the tourism market in Australia and New Zealand? How is it compared to the rest of the world?

Before I even went to the homepage for the Sydney Morning Herald, I kind of assumed in my head that it wouldn't be very similar to national newspapers we see here in the United States. I was, however, very wrong. As I skimmed through the sections they had the same basic elements as ours: National News, World News. Entertainment, Business, Sports, Travel, and Classifieds.
The first story I read was a national story entitled "Stabbing Similarities Just a Coincidence, Court Told." This is a murder case that happened 15 years ago and is going to trial now. The person on trial is a man named Jeffrey Gilham, and he is accused of killing his entire family (mom, dad, and brother). He insists that he only killed his brother Christopher after being provoked by him saying that he (Christopher) killed their parents. This was the main story on the homepage, so obviously it is a very prevalent and important case in Australian news.
The second story I read was entitled "When Bill Brown Talked, Everyone Did Themselves a Favour and Listened." This was honoring the death of the famous Cricket player Bill Brown. He was 95 when he died. Brown was the former Australian captain and opening batsman between 1934 and 1948. This is considered a great loss to the Cricket world.
An area that I was really surprised to see in this newspaper was all the coverage they had of things happening in the U.S. like television shows, actors/actresses, and especially the presidential race.
One thing I also noticed and found a little funny was that there was a link that could add stories to your Facebook profile. So not only is Facebook extremely important in the lives of Americans, it's just as important to the Aussies.

I decided to review an Australian newspaper, so I went to www.smh.com/au aka the Sydney Morning Herald. What really suprised me was before I could even click on any articles to read their full text, an ad campaign for John Mccain popped up. A picture of the American "porn star" Jenna Jameson also caught my eye. It almost felt as if I were reading an american newspaper. The website was set up exactly like the newspapers here in the U.S., such that it was almost indistinguishable from newspapers such as the New York Times or even the Fargo Forum.
When I did actually choose an article to read the section that seemed the most interesting was "opinion". I read an article about politics which was just the usual; the writer commented on the transition from a conservative government to a social democratic government and good the democratic government was for Australia. This didn't surprise me at all because American news largely leads towards the democratic side, which is often really annoying. I did have one question while reading the article though: what exactly is "the ABC"?
The sports section was very different from what I would see in say the New York Times. While it seems that most american sports are that of football, basketball, baseball and sometimes hockey, the Sydney Morning Herald focused on other sports such as soccer, racing, boxing, surfing, cricket and rugby. Since I don't know anything about any of those sports, that section was really of no interest to me.
The entertainment section was completely consumed with celebrity gossip, much of what our newspapers are overloaded with as well. It was interesting however, to read about american celebrities from a different point of view. The main focus of course being celebrities that originated in Australia, which makes sense. For example their article about the Oscars dwelled on the aussie winners and briefly mentioned some others.
Most of the other articles were about the usual; politics, religion, crime, etc. Overall, the newspaper wasn't that different from ones that I have read here in the U.S.. What interested me the most was that all the way "down under" in Australia they are interested in what we are doing in the US whether it be our politics or our entertainment industry. It made me stop and wonder if I have ever been interested in what is going on in Australia?

In A Town Like Alice, a young woman named Jean Paget is working in Malaya. This movie is set a few years after World War II. The Japanese invaded Malaya while Jean and others were there working. While the Japanese were there they made the men go to a camp and the women and children were to stay with the Japanese in some other place that the guys did not know of. The things that the women had to deal with were not very nice. Where they slept and the toilets were not nice at all, they were dirty and gross. They didn’t really have any water to wash themselves or the babies in. The women and children were forced to walk 47 miles with all their things and the children were made to walk that far as well. There are a couple of deaths along the way for the women and children. Throughout the movie Jean is telling her lawyer about their long march. Along the march, Jean met a guy named Joe. He is an Australian soldier. He steals food and other things for Jean, and then gets caught and punished by the Japanese authorities. Jean and everyone believe that he is killed from the Japanese torturing him. Jean survives the war and returns to London. A few years later, she unexpectedly inherits a substantial amount of money from a distant relative. She discusses the matter with her lawyer, Noel, and decides to return to Malaya to attempt to help the people in a village who sheltered them. When she arrives, she learns that Joe Harman survived his punishment and returned to Australia. She travels on to Australia and visits the town of Alice Springs, where Joe lived before the war, and is much impressed with the quality of life there. They eventually get married.

The movie was a good movie. It was definitely one that I have never seen before. It has been a long time since I have seen a movie that is this old. It is very interesting and I did really enjoy watching it. If you are in the mood for an older movie, this one is one that you could watch. To have that many women and children walking that many miles is just crazy. But the women got through it and they worked hard to adapt to what they were handed by the Japanese. This movie reminds me of one of those love stories that are always made. It is definitely a different movie and I did really enjoy watching this old film.

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